Job Description

Salary

The starting salary will be from 43,482 on Grade F, depending on qualifications and experience.

Contractual hours

36.5

Package

Generous holiday allowances, flexible working, pension scheme and relocation package (if applicable).

Job category/type

Research

Date posted

18/12/2025

Job reference

Q00881

Business School,

Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy

The above full-time post is available immediately until 13 November 2026, in the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy (LEEP) Institute at the University of Exeter Business School. The LEEP Institute is a highly interdisciplinary centre bringing together natural, physical, economic, and social scientists to develop and apply data driven solutions to the major environmental, economic and wellbeing challenges facing humanity.

The LEEP institute is a thriving research centre with over 50 members and maintains partnerships with leading researchers and institutes worldwide. It contributes to leading research in environmental resource management, integrated environment-economy modelling, environmental valuation, biodiversity economics, natural capital accounting, sustainability and related decision making.

The LEEP Institute maintains strong research partnerships with other institutes and centres at the university including the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Global Systems Institute, the Environment and Sustainability Institute, and the Centres for Environmental Intelligence (CEI) and Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW). Alongside its international academic profile, LEEP also has an extremely strong track record of working with government and business delivering substantial impact in terms of enhancing the incorporation of the environment within decision making.

Main purpose of the job:

The LEEP team invite applications from candidates with strong programming, statistical modelling, data analysis and data visualisation skills to support the work of the LEEP Data Science and AI team (Professor Daniel Williamson, Professor Brett Day, Dr Amy Binner)

The successful applicant will work across a variety of research projects that focus on environmental decision-making affecting land use in Great Britain to provide a range of market and non-market goods and services including food production, greenhouse gas storage, biodiversity gains, water quality improvements, flood risk reduction and recreation benefits. Examples of these projects are:

NetZeroPlus

(https://netzeroplus.ac.uk/), which aims to demonstrate the greenhouse gas removal potential of new woodlands in the UK;

Contract Research Projects

to investigate land use change, funded by government and third sector funders, for example Defra, Natural England, Forestry England.

About you

Applicants will possess a relevant PhD or equivalent qualification/experience in Statistics, Machine learning, AI or in a field of study involving complex statistical/machine learning modelling. The successful applicant will possess sufficient specialist knowledge in the discipline to develop methodology for research publication. The successful applicant will also be able to work collaboratively, supervise the work of others and act as team leader if required. Applicants will be able to communicate mathematics/statistics/machine learning effectively, with specialists and non-specialists alike. They will be able to design and implement (in R or Python) new statistical models and inferential algorithms at appropriate spatio-temporal scales to meet project needs and the needs of decision makers.

The successful applicant will:

Gain experience building surrogate models that underpin our decision support systems and analysis. Use emulators to accelerate and improve model calibration for models such as crop growth, tree growth, soil carbon emissions, livestock management, policy uptake, water quality and biodiversity, using both in situ observations and remote sensing Learn how to build and manage containerised software using docker. Ensure uncertainty from their modelling can be readily and effectively visualised.

What we can offer you

Freedom (and the support) to pursue your intellectual interests and to work creatively across disciplines to produce internationally exciting research; Support teams that understand the University wide research and teaching goals and partner with our academics accordingly An Exeter Innovation directorate that works closely with our academics providing specialist support for external engagement and development Our Exeter Academic initiative supporting high performing academics to achieve their potential and develop their career


A multitude of staff benefits including sector leading benefits around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), Paternity leave (up to 6 weeks full pay), and a new Fertility Treatment Policy A beautiful campus set in the heart of stunning Devon.

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking 2024). We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by Gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.

Our world-leading research impact has grown more than any other Russell Group university in recent years, and we are home to some of the world's most influential researchers, seeking to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today. More than 99 percent of our research is of international quality and 47 percent is world-leading (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students. Read about our world leading research - Green Futures and how we are transforming education for a changing world. We are located in a beautiful part of the country and Exeter (a fast growing tech hub) is one of only a few UK cities to have been designated as a UNESCO Creative City

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

We are committed to ensuring reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community.

With over 30,000 students and 7,000 staff from 150 different countries we offer a diverse and engaging environment where our diversity is celebrated and valued as a major strength. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all members of our community are supported to thrive; where diverse voices are heard through our engagement with evidence-based charter frameworks for gender (Athena SWAN and Project Juno for Physics), race equality (Race Equality Charter Mark), LGBTQ+ inclusion (Stonewall Diversity Champion) and as a Disability Confident employer.

We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and welcome applications from service people.

Further information

For further information please contact Daniel Williamson, D.Williamson@exeter.ac.uk